Vacherot stuns de Minaur to become the first Monégasque in a Monte-Carlo Masters semifinal
Monégasque Valentin Vacherot defeated Australian Alex de Minaur, the No 5 seed (6-4, 3-6, 6-3), to reach the semifinals of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Friday – becoming the first player from Monaco ever to reach the last four of their home tournament, and confirming a rise into the world’s top 20 that would have … Continued
Valentin Vacherot, Monte-Carlo 2026 | © Chryslène Caillaud / PsNewz
Monégasque Valentin Vacherot defeated Australian Alex de Minaur, the No 5 seed (6-4, 3-6, 6-3), to reach the semifinals of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Friday – becoming the first player from Monaco ever to reach the last four of their home tournament, and confirming a rise into the world’s top 20 that would have been unimaginable twelve months ago.
The match was not without tension. Vacherot broke in the second game of the third set and led 4-2, but de Minaur, one of the tour’s most relentless competitors, refused to yield. The Australian converted his seventh break point of the match to level at 4-4 before Vacherot closed it out on the Demon’s final service game. It was another three-set battle at the end of a week that has demanded everything from the 27-year-old.
“It was my fourth match, and playing de Minaur in very heavy conditions this evening, I knew it would need a lot more energy”, Vacherot said. “He runs so well. He makes so few mistakes. But what helped me was the crowd, of course, and the eagerness to do well, the eagerness to play Alcaraz tomorrow. I was able to start off the match well. Winning that first set was key, because if I hadn’t won it, I think it would have been a lot more difficult.
“In the second set, when he started being ahead, I didn’t let go, of course, but I really followed the groove and I didn’t put into it 100% of my energy, to keep it for the last set. In the beginning of the third set, it took me two games to get into it, and at Love-1, I saved a tough game, and with the crowd, here I was ahead again, and I broke him when I was needing it.”
“Carlos in my hometown, it’s amazing”
When the interviewer on court pointed out that the semifinal draw now read Alcaraz, Sinner, Zverev and Vacherot, the Monégasque took a moment before answering. “That sounds amazing. It’s such an honour for me to be part of the semifinals around the three best players of the last few years. I just can’t wait for tomorrow and to have the chance to play Carlos in my hometown. It’s amazing.”
The hometown dimension of this story is not incidental – it is the entire story. Vacherot has grown up on these courts. The Monte-Carlo Country Club is his club. The faces in the stands are not strangers. “All the guys up there chanting – those are all my best friends since I was 9, 10, 11, 12 years old. High school. Middle school with them. It’s rare for a player to have this chance, to have that many people around. All the members of the club sitting in the boxes. I can name probably a thousand faces in the crowd. I’m just so lucky to have a tournament in my club.”
A year ago, he was ranked No. 255. On Monday, he will be No. 17. The transformation traces back to Shanghai last October, where he became the lowest-ranked Masters 1000 champion since 1990. That result gave him the confidence to believe this level was not a temporary ceiling.
It has not been. This week he has beaten Lorenzo Musetti, the No. 4 seed, in the second round, Hubert Hurkacz in the third, and now de Minaur – his second top-10 victory of the week. The last time he reached the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000, in Shanghai, he won the title.
